Friday, September 28, 2012

A
survey cited by "The Wall Street Journal" says that a person who
surfs the book store actually spends more time looking at the front book cover
before he reads the back cover. Yes, you got it right. You should carefully
think about how to design your book cover using recommended design techniques
to attract buyers.

Here are some noteworthy book cover creation tips you can use.

1. The Front Cover

The front book cover showcases the title, its subtitle, and the author's name.
Think of the front cover as a billboard ad displayed on one of the busiest
streets in the city. Its design must express a solid message without being too
flashy and fussy. The graphics should be bold, unique, and distinct. Graphics
should relate to the book's content and not mislead readers. Use contrasting
bold typeface as the lettering. You can use your imagination for the color
scheme. The font size must be readable, even from a distance.

Poorly designed book covers will result in poor sales. The best tip is to hire
a professional graphic designer who is skilled in printing, photography,
software, and creative skills. Now that will truly make sense.

2. The Book Spine

The book's spine must contain the author's name, the book's title, and the
publishing company's logo (if applicable). The information must be legible,
uncluttered, and visibly clean. Use bold and contrasting colors for the
letters.

3. Tease the Back Cover

The back cover gives you a second chance at selling your book to a potential
buyer who found your front cover interesting. The back cover should tease the
minds of potential buyers and persuade them to buy your book. Go for a terrific
headline and advertise it to your target market, provide a brief but persuasive
background of the content, include your bio-data and photo, the bar code, and
the 13-digit ISBN number.

Whether you are writing fiction or non-fiction, you must choose the best title
for your book.

4.
Keep Your Book Title Short

Favor short titles instead of long titles. Short titles make a great impact.
Statistics show that more readers remember a short book title instead of a long
book title. Book titles don't have to form a complete sentence. Phrases, terms,
fragments, or even just one word might make the perfect book title if it can
fully encompass the main idea of your work.

5. Keep It Descriptive

The title of your book must mirror the idea of your book. One simple but
effective example is the first book of C.S. Lewis' popular Chronicles of Narnia
Series, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. With those words, you know
immediately which important figures encompass the story.

You don't have to be literal all the time. Abstract ideas and allusions work as
long as you can catch readers' attention and exhibit an underlying significance
in hindsight. One good example is Tennessee Williams' play, The Glass
Menagerie.

6. Speak the Language of Your Readers

Your story's success relies on how much your readers can relate to and
appreciate your book. Although this doesn't mean you have to write about
situations that your readers have experienced, it does mean writing in a way
that helps readers grasp your meaning. Apply the same reasoning as you develop
a title for your book.

Using buzzwords are okay if you believe they're appropriate. Consider the
long-term consequences of your choice. A popular term today may be obsolete in
the next decade.

7. Make It Unforgettable

This is where various factors like alliteration, rhyming, choice of verbs, and
even choice of language all come into play. You don't need to use complicated
words; one glance at "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" proves that rather well.

If you need help creating unforgettable book titles, focus on your book's
content. What ideas in your book seemed preposterous at the start, but you
defended and proved your point in the end? Can you sum them up in a few words?

Ponder these important book cover creation tips and be ready to hit the market
with the potential of great sales.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

It takes little time or effort
to spruce up a sentence that includes repetitive-sounding phrases. Here are
some examples of minor revisions that eliminate echoes of phrasing:

1. “Six models are available,
from a one-bedroom bungalow for $81,000 to a three-bedroom, two-story city
house for about $200,000.”

Avoid the “this for that, this
for that” structure of this sentence by varying the second for phrase:
“Six models are available, from an $81,000 one-bedroom bungalow to a
three-bedroom, two-story city house priced in the low $200,000s.”

2. “Locations range from Sonoma,
Berkeley, and Crockett in the San Francisco Bay Area to Shelter Island in
Washington State.”
The “this in that” repetition here is resolved by flipping
the city/state order of the second element by using the possessive form of the
larger geographic element: “Locations range from Sonoma, Berkeley, and Crockett
in the San Francisco Bay Area to Washington State’s Vashon Island.”

This type of solution is often
useful even when no repetition occurs; “Chicago’s downtown hub,” for example,
flows more smoothly than “the downtown hub of Chicago.” (Also, note in the
example above that the capitalization of state is correct; this is an
anomalous usage when distinguishing between the state of Washington and
Washington, DC.)

3. “Her designs include the
Vitra company’s fire station in Weil am Rhein, Germany, the Mind Zone at the
Millennium Dome in London, and a tram station and car park in Strasbourg,
France.”

Introducing variations in this
reference to buildings in various locations reduces the number of prepositions
from four to two: “Her designs include the Vitra company’s fire station, in
Weil am Rhein, Germany; the Mind Zone, at London’s Millennium Dome; and a
Strasbourg, France, tram station and car park.”

Note that because formal writing
calls for setting off restrictive phrases — without a comma, “the Mind Zone at
London’s Millennium Done,” for example, implies that other Mind Zones are to be
found elsewhere — the three elements of this sentence have been separated by
semicolons.

4. “The story bridges the
stylistic gap between the dreams of Tim Burton and the nightmares of David
Lynch.”

The fix in the second example,
above, can be applied to names of people as well as those of places: “The story
bridges the stylistic gap between the dreams of Tim Burton and David Lynch’s
nightmares.”

5. “They range from venerable
standards such as House Beautiful, with a circulation of 7.6 million, to the
local up-and-comer, Dwell, with a circulation of about 250,000.”

Substitution of “which has” for
a weak with and elegant variation of one word strengthens this sentence:
“They range from venerable standards such as House Beautiful, with a
circulation of 7.6 million, to the local up-and-comer, Dwell, which has
a readership of about 250,000.”

Various revisions of the final
phrase are possible. You could choose a more vivid verb and write “which boasts
250,000 readers,” for example, but be careful about weighted words such as boasts
and claims. Also, in some sentences, the grammatical structure of “the
250,000-reader Dwell” is valid, but applying the template here produces awkward
wording.

6. “In the white winters, you
can sled or cross-country ski, or drive to the North Lake Tahoe ski resorts. In
the hot, bright summers, there’s hiking through giant forests, climbing the
towering Sierra Buttes, and swimming in the 130 nearby lakes. In the autumn,
the deciduous trees glow with vivid fall colors, and in the spring, the masses
of wildflowers create a psychedelic dreamscape.”

The repetitive “in the (noun)”
introductory phrases in this paragraph are mitigated by some variety in the
respective following phrases, but further differentiation is easily
accomplished: “In the white winters, you can sled or cross-country ski, or
drive to the North Lake Tahoe ski resorts. During the hot, bright summers,
there’s hiking through giant forests, climbing the towering Sierra Buttes, and
swimming in the 130 nearby lakes. Come autumn, the deciduous trees glow with
vivid fall colors, and when spring arrives, the masses of wildflowers create a
psychedelic dreamscape.”

7. “She says that over the past
month, she’s made over 350 calls on her cell phone.”

Avoid using a word more than
once in a sentence, especially if it has different meanings each time: “She
says that over the past month, she’s made more than 350 calls on her cell
phone.” (But generally, when you come across over used in the sense of
“more than,” don’t automatically correct it unless your workplace’s style guide
mandates it. If you believe that over, as an alternative to “more than,” is not
valid, get over it: Many usage manuals and style guides accept either term to
mean “in excess of.”)

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Humours: Ancient Greeks and Romans believed the
human body to be comprised of four humours — blood, black bile, yellow bile and
phlegm — that corresponded with different personality types, seasons, organs
and elements. It’s pretty much accepted as complete scientific doodie by now,
but the concept has left an indelible impression on literary history all the
same.

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About Me

An enthusiastic instructor and writer, I spend my time freelancing as both. I teach book writing as well as all aspects of graphic design. I love to teach and I very much enjoy writing and creating books.